Jack Flack wondered why Microsoft would send Carl Icahn to deliver a 24-hour ultimatum to Yahoo, and then neither Microsoft nor Icahn would be ready to pop with public statement when the clock ticked down to the deadline, allowing Yahoo to provide the lone explanation of the latest terms of disagreement. This afternoon's statement from Microsoft provided two clues. 1. Microsoft and Icahn are only barely in sync. They have vague conversations, and then Icahn then follows his instincts within a very broad corridor. Assumedly, that's the way that both parties like it. Microsoft gets to lay back while Icahn drops cow patty after cow patty into Yahoo's purple punch bowl, while Icahn enjoys the assumed imprimatur of the guys with the checkbook. 2. Neither Microsoft nor Icahn thought the ultimatum was actually an ultimatum, and were thus caught flat-footed when Yahoo delivered a Saturday night special . In fact, Yahoo's statement , already par sed for you enjoyment , reads as if it were anticipating rival statements from Microsoft, Icahn or both. Icahn did indeed retaliate... when business hours resumed a day and half later. But Jack Flack demurred on parsing the individual sentences, which were not only overly numerous, but so reminiscent of the battling Bickersons that he instead opted for a summary parse. Icahn: Statement Translation: Again, I say, "Lies! Lies! Lies!" Later in the day, Microsoft decided to emulate Yahoo's "set the record ...
Anytime
